It's All in the Numbers

After finishing teaching a course in Roseville, California - I hopped into my little rental car, and headed furiously for the Sacramento airport. It was now 4:15PM, and my flight left at 5:25PM to Vancouver. An added complexity was that I had volunteered to take one of my students to the airport with me, although I needed to drop them off at their Terminal (different than mine) before returning my rental car - and taking the shuttle bus to my Terminal. Why did I agree to this??



Thankfully having a passenger allowed us to drive in the commuter lane most of the way to the aiport. Very thankful that we did not encounter any police cars (we would have been in ALOT of trouble - enough said), we had turned a typical 45min drive into a 25min 'Cannonball Run'. Once my student was dropped off, I eventually dropped off my rental car - with a full hour to spare. Usually enough time to get checked in, through security, and grab a snack before taking off...



My United Airlines flight was to leave from Terminal 2, so I sat quietly on the shuttle bus until arriving at Terminal 2 - watching the precious minutes pass by. Hopping off of the bus with my luggage, I rushed to the United counter to check in. 'I am taking the "5:25pm to Vancouver"' I said. Oh, replied the counter lady. Flight # 8345 is hosted by Air Canada Jazz, and leaves from Terminal 1.... I bit my lip. She continued - United flights that start with the number '8' are all Air Canada Flights, even though on your confirmation information, it says United...

How was I as a regular airline traveller supposed to know this little tidbit of information? So now I was at the wrong airline, at the wrong terminal, and now with only 40mins until my flight was to take off. I foolishly asked "Is there a direct shuttle from this Terminal to Terminal 1?". I should have expected the reply 'No sir, the fastest way it to walk'.



Looking back at this situation now, I vaguely recall her saying - "You stupid fool, you're at the wrong terminal. Why can't you civilians figure out our internal coding system for flights, and stop making the same damned mistakes? Oh well, we're now going to make you RUN to the other Terminal - with all of your bags in tow..." Thanks for trying to fly United!



In the end, I did run to the other terminal with my rolley bags bouncing behind me - and the United Airlines people pressing their faces to the window of Terminal 2, laughing at me (I am sure). Once I did arrive at Terminal 1, all was well. The check in and security processes flowed even more smoothly than expected.

With only 10mins until my flight was to take off, I arrived at my gate - to find that the flight had been delayed by 45mins. It was time to rest my Terminal running feet, and grab something to eat.

Damn those mysterious flight numbers. Who knew that the codes actually meant something??

A Tale of 3 Flight Segments

A too familiar story. It begins with attempting to save the corporation money, by selecting a 3 segment flight from Vancouver to Sacramento, CA. The journey was to take it's turns in Portland, then again in San Franciso - with an perfect destination of Sacramento, and an arrival time of 4:20PM.


I should have known that the day of travel was to be less than ideal, when it snowed 4 inches the day before - and didn't let up all night. By the time that I left for the all too familiar 60min drive to YVR, I had to clean 6-7 inches of snow from the car - and pray that the car would securely take hold on the driveway underneath... to find ice beneath the tires this morning - would be tragic. In the end, the drive was uneventful - and all went well, until the fabulous Dash-8 had to be de-iced! 1 hour waiting for men dangling from the mechanical arms of trucks, to spray the wings of the plane with some sort of 'transparent stuff'. Don't really know what it's supposed to do, but we took off and landed OK - so I guess it performed it's function well.





With taking off 1 hour late from a frosty Vancouver, we then landed 1 hour late in Oregon - and the trip is already off track. To my chagrin, after running through large puddles of rain - across the tarmack - my connecting flight had left without me - without so much as a note being left at the gate: "Sorry we missed you - we should do lunch"... They'll probably never call... ;-)


So here I sit, in the Travellers lounge - sipping free beer, waiting for my now 3:15Pm departure - resulting in a now 8:30PM arrival in Sacramento.



*** time delay while in flight ***

I'm happy to report the the 2nd and 3rd segments of my trip were much less eventful than the 1st. I have, however; come to realize that my body type was not considered when developing the majority of airplane seating designs. Not being able to stand up in the plane (boarding, de-planing), and having 'cozy' seating arrangements seem to be the standard. This to be discussed more in later posts - as I hope to collect some examples.

FRAS-MERICA - A Just beginning

This being my first post, I thought I should share my insight for creating this Blog. Although I have only been travelling for work, for the past 5 months - it has become obvious to me that I need to share some of my experiences with others. I don't plan to provide insight into travelling, or travelling tips (not often anyways) - as there are many sites that do this. I do hope to share some of the odd situations or sights that I find, while travelling - if for no other reason than to bring a smile to someone's face. Mind you, most of this situations will probably be a result of me being stuck in a remote little airport somewhere - with no hope of getting home - anytime soon.

This being said - hope you enjoy.